Monday, October 25, 2010

Silent Government. Silent Media. Silent Majority. I Find it All so Deafening.

Richard Nixon introduced the political phrase 'Silent Majority', which referred to an unspecified majority of people who do not express their opinions publicly.

He first used it in a speech (November 3, 1969) about the Vietnam War and the many protests against it. He felt that while the crowds were enormous at peace rallies, the majority of Americans actually supported the war, but were afraid to speak up.

It has become a popular phrase with many groups, especially those who would like the freedom to bash certain groups based on race, gender, religion or sexual orientation, believing that most people share their views, and just keep silent to be accepted in society.

When Jean Chretien made the decision to keep Canada out of Iraq, Stephen Harper appeared on Fox News in the United States.

In an interview with the American TV network, Harper said he endorsed the war and said he was speaking "for the silent majority" of Canadians. Only in Quebec, with its "pacifist tradition," are most people opposed to the war, Harper said. "Outside of Quebec, I believe very strongly the silent majority of Canadians is strongly supportive," the Canadian Alliance leader says. (1)

This showed how little he understood about Canadians, because poll after poll indicated that we were pleased with Chretien's decision. It wasn't just Quebec.

When Stephen Harper was with the Northern Foundation, a group he himself referred to as fascists (2), their motto was 'Standing up for Canada's Silent Majority'.

Howard Goldenthal, formerly a writer with Toronto's Now magazine, describes the foundation as a "clearing house" for right-wing groups and ideas, bringing together like-minded organizations in an attempt to consolidate and co-ordinate efforts at promoting conservatism. The foundation's organizing pamphlet, "Standing up for Canada's Silent Majority" confirms that goal. It bemoans the fact that conservatives fought — "and mostly lost" — single issue battles in the 1970s and 80s and "laments ... what has become normal': ... turbans in the RCMP, destabilizing immigration, government funding to radical feminist and homosexual groups ... " (3)

So Stephen Harper is now the voice of Canada's 'Silent Majority'. But only after he silenced his caucus and the media. Heaven help us.

Why we Should be Concerned

"I had no doubt at all that war was coming, and it wasn't just because Hitler was creating such a storm in Europe. For me it went back a lot farther than that, to the time when I was a young schoolgirl in France and saw these great fortifications being built, which I found out was the Maginot Line. On another occasion, on a school holiday, we were taken to Italy and the Fascists were everywhere and there was such an atmosphere of "getting ready" and all-round preparation, that it was scary. This was ten years before the Hitler rumblings of the thirties. This made such an impression on a 14-year-old, one of tension and fear, that I was absolutely positive that it wouldn't be long before we had another war." Kay Gilmour Toronto, Ontario (4)

Stephen Harper has stated that his foreign policy is now being directed by the Religious Right (5), or what he refers to as Theocons. And leading the charge is a dangerous right-wing group called Christians United for Israel. Headed by Texas Pastor John Hagee and his Canadian counterpart, Charles McVety, they see the world as a "clash of civilizations". The same "clash of civilizations" (6) that Harper himself envisions.

And this "clash" will end with Armageddon, but first they have to rid the world of Muslims and Communists. (I never said they were sane).

And that is one of the main reasons why Canada's bid for a UN Security seat was rejected. Because of our new "love of Israel", which has absolutely nothing to do with actually loving Israel, but exploiting them. Because during Armageddon the Jews must convert to Christianity or be annihilated.

One pastor in Jerusalem from a mainstream church expressed skepticism about the motives of the Christian Zionists — and of the cynicism of Israelis who play along. "It's the worst kind of anti-Semitism," says the cleric, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the issue. "At the end, these Evangelicals say that all the Jews will be dead except those who become Christians. But in the meantime, the Israelis are happy to fill their hotels with them and use their help to get American weapons." (7)

We could simply dismiss this as Harper doing whatever it takes to get the Jewish vote, except that there is very strong evidence that our government is preparing for war.

“It’s hard to find a country friendlier to Israel than Canada these days,” chirps Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives-called Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon a “measured response” (Two Canadian UN peacekeepers were targeted and killed by Israeli in the invasion. Harper refused to protest, asking rhetorically in parliament what they were doing there in the first place.)-refused to condemn the invasion of Gaza in December 2008 or the siege of Gaza (the only “Nay” at the UN Human Rights Council) -refused to condemn the Israeli murder of nine members of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May-opposed an attempted IAEA probe of Israel’s nuclear facilities as part of an effort to create a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East.-cut off UN humanitarian aid to Gaza because it was going through the Hamas government there. (8)

But even more alarming is the physical evidence:

That $15 million for UNRWA-Gaza was not actually cancelled by Harper; it was cleverly transferred to Operation PROTEUS, a plan to train a Palestinian security force “to ensure that the Palestinian Authority maintains control of the West Bank against Hamas,” according to Canadian Ambassador to Israel Jon Allen. Boasts Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Americas Peter Kent, this is the country’s “second largest deployment after Afghanistan”.

While Canada trains police to contain Palestinian anger, it is rapidly expanding relations with the Palestinians’ colonial masters. Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan just held talks in Tel Aviv to further expand the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement ... Canada and Israel signed a far-reaching public security cooperation “partnership” in 2008 to “protect their respective countries’ population, assets and interests from common threats”. Israel security agents now officially assist the RCMP and CSIS in profiling Canadians citizens who are Muslims [my emphasis] and monitoring individuals and/or organisations in Canada involved in supporting the rights of Palestinians. The barring of British MP George Galloway from entering Canada in 2009 was surely at the behest of now official Mossad advisers. (8)

And even more alarming still, Peter Kent said recently “It’s a matter of timing and it’s a matter of how long we can wait without taking more serious pre-emptive action.” (8)

"A matter of timing". So where are the headlines? Canada has also built prisons and courts in Palestine. They have promised an expenditure of 400 billion for military hardware. Rick Hillier says that Harper has also stated that his office will run future wars. Is his "silent majority" the only voice now being heard?

And what about that whole Communist thing? Seems they are not only just posturing with Russia, in an attempt to revive the "Cold War". They've been busy.

Harper and MacKay have hosted NATO Arctic war games aimed at the “aggressive” Russians, and announced plans to spend $9 billion to buy F-35 joint strike “stealth” fighter jets to “meet the threats of the 21st century”.

Very dangerous "war games"

After visits by Canada's defense and military chiefs to inspect the multinational war games, Prime Minister Harper arrived in Resolute on August 25, the penultimate day of the 20-day military maneuvers, to - in the words of one of the nation's main news agencies - rally the 1,500 Canadian, American and Danish troops present.

Harper's visit to inspect the exercise occurred only hours after another - potentially dangerous - publicity stunt by his government: Dispatching CF-18 fighter jets (variants of the American F/A-18 Hornet) to allegedly ward off two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bombers patrolling off Canada's northern border, "something the Russian military does frequently." Harper's press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, "said the two CF-18 Hornet fighters visually identified the two Russian aircraft approximately 120 nautical miles north of Inuvik in Northwest Territories," over international waters. (9)

When are we going to stop being silent? When it's too late? And while you're pondering that question, here's something else to think about. A Prime Minister can on his own, declare war on our behalf. Scared yet? Mad yet?

Maybe we need to listen to people like Russel McNeil, from Nanaimo, BC:

The men and women in the generation before mine did what they had to do. They crushed an evil idea. In the Germany of the 1930s it was called National Socialism. Like all evil, this lie was masked in other lies and promises of a better life. It is ironic that the idea sprang up in a great land, amongst a caring and compassionate people, no different from the people in the towns and cities in Canada. Yet the idea took root in spite of this, and attracted the worst of any country's criminals.

The terrible sadness is that evil never dies. At best, it is only controlled. When the controls fail the evil can take root again —anywhere. It could happen here. We can only hope and pray that the impossible sacrifices of my parents' generation has taught our generation to recognize deceit and evil, and that they have provided us with the tools to keep those ideas under control. (10)